Device for mixing ingredients for making glass and for feeding them to furnaces.



No. 826,139. f PATENTED JULY 17, 1906.

H M i BROOKFIELD. E DEVICE FOR MIXING INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING GLASS ANDPOR'FEEDI'NG THEM T0 PURNAGES.

APPLIUATION FILED umm. 1902.

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No. 826,139. l PATENTED JULY 17, 1906. H M BROOKPIELD.

DEVICE POR MIXING INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING GLASS AND POR I'EEDING THEM T0PURNAGES. APPLIOATION FILED 1111.15. 1902.

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ATTORNEYs STATES OFF HERY M. BRooKFIELD, or NEWYORK, N. Y. DEVICE ronMIXING INGREDIENTS FoN MAKING 4GLASS* NND FoR FEEDING THEM To ruIINAEs.

Specificationof Letters Patent.-

`Patented. July 17, 1906.

application nea March v15, 1902. serai No. 98,310.

To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, HENRY M. BRooxFIELD, a citizen of theI United States,and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Mixing Ingredii entsfor Making Glass and for Feeding Them to a Furnace, of which thefollowing isv a` specification.

My invention relates to devices for mixing the necessary ingredients formakingglass and for feeding a mixture of such ingredients to av furnace.

The object ofmy invention is to provide improved means for automaticallymixing the necessaryingredients for making glass and lfor mixing them inthe proper proportions'and-for mixing them thoroughly; also, to providea means for automatically feeding the mixture of such ingredients to afurnace;

It consists of the novel devices and combinations herein shown anddescribed.

In the drawings accompanying this speciiication, and forming a parthereof, I have shownthe preferred form or embodiment of my invention,and I will now proceed to describe the same. f

Referring to such drawings, lFigure lis an elevation, partly in section,of apparatus containing my improvement in its preferred form. Fig. 2 isa plan view` of a part of the said apparatus, and Fig. 3 is across-section through one yof the hoppers and the receiver.

Referring td the embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, 1, 2,3, and 4 form a series of-hoppers for the different ingredients out ofwhich the glass is to be made. Preferably these hoppers are made ofsomewhatvarying sizes to correspond approximately to the relativeproportions of the materials used. For example, hopper 1 is made muchlarger than any of the other hoppers and is used for the sand. Hopper 2is used for the soda, for example, hopper 3 .for the lime, and hopper 4for the cullet.

These hoppers are each provided with a screw 5, arranged Yin the bottomof each hopper and running the length of the hopper, as shown in Figs. 2and 3. These screws are v'provided with any suitable means for rotatingthem for the purpose of feeding the material contained in the hopperalong and out of one side of the hopper through a discharge-orifice 6.(Shown in Figs. 2 and 3.) Each hopper is provided with one of .thesedischarge-orifices arranged at the discharge end of the screw.lEachscrew is made with a core 7, whichv tapers toward the discharge endof the screw. The tapering form of this core causes the material in thehopper to be taken' evenly and equally from all parts of the length ofthe hopper. It also tends to make the feed even andto push the materialevenly and regularly out of the hopper.

A receiver common to all the hoppers 1s provided and adapted toreceivethe` different ingredientsas they are discharged from Thisreceiver may 1n Fig. 3, for preventingthe material from spilling 0H".from the belt. As isshown, belt 8 carries the'ingredients fed out fromthe diHerent hoppers into a receptacle 1 1. From here they are carriedby any suitable means to a hopper 12, whence they are automatically fedto the furnace. -As shown, the

means employed for .carrying the mixture of A' ingredients fromreceptacle 11 to the hop-l per 12 consist of an endless chain car ingbuckets 13, the chain running over u leysA 14 14. Any ,suitable means.may eemployed for conveying the dlerent, ingredientsv after theirdischarge from' the hoppers 1, 2, 3, ande to the hopper 12, and, ifdesired,

hoppers 1, 2, 3, and 4 could be placed di-y rectly vabove the hopper 12and the ingredients be permitted to fall directly into that hopper,although I prefer to use an intermediate receiver like the endless belt8, as in vthis way the ingredients are more thoroughly mixed.

From buckets 13 the materials are passed through chute 15 intohopper 12.This hoper is provided along its bottom with a simiar screw 5, made witha tapering core 7, as

already described. I-Iopper 12 is provided at its ri ht-hand end with adischarge-orifice. In the orm shown this consists of a'conduit 16,through which screw 5 is partly extended'. The lower part of conduit 16extends from this point into an opening 17 in the wall of the furnace18. The space between the end of screw 5 and the openin 17 of thefurnace is left for the insertion o a stopper-such, for instance, as ablock of clay-into opening 17 of the furnace when it is desired to stopthe feeding of the ingredients to the furnace and to close up theopening.

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. matically and evenly mixed in the 519 represents the molten glass inthe fur- Any suitable means may be employed for drivin thescrews 5, andsuch means may, 1f desire be connected together and be arran ed so as todrive the different screws at source of power.

re etermined rates relative to one another. prefer, however, not toconnect all of them,

. b ut, for example, to drive the screw of hop` per 1 through pulley 20from any suitable The screw of hopper 2 is l' driven through gear-wheel21 from any suitl able source of power, (not shown,) and this throughidle ear 22 and gear-23 on the shaft of screw 5 of opper 3 drives thelatter. By varying the number of teeth in those different Agear-wheelsin any desired manner the two screws maybe driven at any speedrelatively to each other which may-be desired.

' ed on the shaft of screw 5 of ho per 3.

The -screw 5 of hopper 4 is shown as driven through a pulley 24 on itsshaft, belt 25, and. pulley26, secured to a sleeve loosely murt- Y meansof a clutch 27, 'onemem er of which is fast to sleeve 26 and the otherto shaft of screw 5 of hopper 3, and hand-lever 28, se-

ycured to Vone member ofthe clutch, motion may be transmitted from shaft5 of hopper 3 to shaft 5'of hopper 4. l I preferably provide a clutch inthisconnection in order to ermit the throwingout ,of operation oftheopper nace may be used separately one without the I other, if desired.

By means of myimprovement the ingredients necessary for making glass areautoroper proportions without any clogging of t e ma- '.chine, and suchmixture is automatically fed 'to a furnace. A great savingof labor isthereby effected with a largely-increased economy in the manufacture ofglass. The

d y proportions of the various ingredients can be ymore accuratelyfollowed out than where the ingredients .are mixed or are fed tothe I'urnace by hand.y ,"The quality of glass Aproduced can therefore be mademoreeven and regular. By vthe use of my improvementthe ingredients canalso be more thoroughly -mixed than by hand. This-produces ater and moreeven qualit of glass. A much c larger proportion of cul et can also beemployed where my im rovement is use d with.-

outcloging than W ere the ingredients are y hand, thus chea eningthe-manufacture of manykinds -ofg ass.

I am aware that heretofore attempts have been made to mix batchautomatically by means of worms turning at the bottom of hoppers.A Inall such ap aratus,.however,

'the sand oryother materia .tends to clogithe To avoid this; it has beenfound,

apparatus. necessary to make the opening from .the hopper into thechambercontaining the Worm comparatively small, and in such a hopper itnot unfrequently ha pens that the sand or other ingredients wil bank up.and all feeding will stop for a time. Even when such an a paratus is notvclogged the feed is apt to e uneven. By means fof-.my im roved wormprovided'with a taperin cfore a l of these difficulties are overcome ,coggingis prevented, the worm may run the entire length of a long hopperand be exposed Ato the material its whole length without clogging, thematerial is fed from all parts of the hopper, and banking of thematerial inthe manner above described` is prevented. f

What I claim as new, and desire, to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a machine formixingingredients for; making molten glass, thecombinationof a series of hop ers for the different ingredients closedat their lower parts, a screwin the botvtom of each ho per runningthrough substantially the lengt of the hopper to a dischargeorificetherein and open to the hop er throughout its said length and rovi edwith a core tapering toward the ischarge end ofI the screw, drivingmechanism for turning the'screws, the hoppers,l screws and .drivingmechanismv being 'lso constructed, ar- .rangedand combined as to feedthe different ingredients out from the different hoppers 1n certainpredeterminedproportions, and a receiver adapted to receive thedifferent ingredients discharged lfrom the different hopvpers, wherebythe different ingredients may 1 e automatically fed into the receiver incer- :tain redetermmed proportions. f

2. n a machine for mlxing ingredients for making molten glass, thecombination of a series of hoppers for the different 4ingredients closedat their lower parts, vthe said hoppers IIO varying in size inaccordancewith the jproportion of the different materials to lbe used,la screw in the bottom of each lho per running IIs through substantiallythe lengt of-the'hopper to a discharge-ounce therein and o en to thehopper throughout its said lengt .and Cprovided with -a Vcore tapering"toward ,the

ischarge end of the screw, driving mechanik' ism for turnin lthe screws,the hoppers, screws and drivin? mechanlsmbemg so constructed, arrangeand combined as to vfeed ,the different ingredients out from thedifferen t hoppers in certain predetermined proportions, andareceiver-adapted to receive .the different ingredients dischargedfromthe different hoppers, whereby the different ingredients maybeautomaticall-yfed into .the

i charge-orifice therein and receiver in certain tions.

3. In a machine for mixing ingredients for making molten glass, thecombination of a series of hoppers for the different ingredients closedat their lower parts, a screw in the bottom of each hopper runningthrough substantially thelength of the hopper to a discharge-orificetherein and open to the hopper throughout its said length and providedwith a core tapering toward the discharge end of the screw, drivingmechanism for turning the screws, the hoppers, screws and drivingmechanism being so constructed, arranged and combined as to feed thediHerent ingredientsout from the different hoppers in certainredetermined proportions, a receiver a a ted to receive the differentingredients ischarged from the different hoppers, and means forautomatically feeding the mixed ingredients to the furnace, whereby thedifferent ingredients for making glass may be automaticallyT fed to thefurnace in certain predetermined proportions.

4. In a machine for mixing ingredients for making molten glass, thecombination of a series of hoppers for the different ingredients closedat their lower parts, a screw in the bottom of each hopper runningthrough substantially the length of the hopper to a disopen to thehopper throughout its said length and'provided with a core taperingtoward the discharge end of the screw, driving mechanism for turning thescrews, the hoppers, screws and drivin mechanism being so constructed,arrange' and combined as to feed the different inpredeterminedproporgredients out from the different hoppers in certain redeterminedproportions, a conveyer ad)a ted to yreceive the different ingredientsischarged-from the different hopers and toconvey them toa mixing-chamer,a mixing-chamber closed at its lower parts, a screw in the bottom ofsaid mxin .chamber running through substantially the length of saidchamber to a discharge-orifice therein andopen to the said chambervthroughout its said length vland with a core tapering toward theischarge rovided y end of the screw, and means for driving the screw tofeed the mixed ingredients to the furnace, whereby the differentingredients for making glass may be automatically mixed in certainpredetermined proportions, and be automatically fed to the furnace.

5. In a machine for mixing ingredients for making molten glass, thecombination of a series of hoppers for the different ingredients closedat their lower parts, a screw in the bottom of each hopper runningthrough` substantially the length of the hopper to a discharge-orificetherein and open to the hop er throughout its said length and providedwith a core tapering toward the discharge end of the screw, drivingmechanism for turning the screws, the hoppers, screwsand drivinmechanism being so constructed, arrange and combined as to feed thedifferent ingredients out from the different hoppers in certainpredetermined proportions, a conveyer adapted to receive the differentingredients discharged from the different ho pers Iand to convey them toa receptac e, means for raising the said ingredients and delivering themto a receiving-hopper, a receiving-hopper arranged in proximity to thefurnace and closed at its lower parts and prof vided with an oriiiceconnecting with the furnace, a screw in the bottom of thereceivinghopper running through substantially the len th ofthe ho per tosaid discharge-orifice an open to the lib per throughout its length andprovided Wit a core tapering toward the discharge end of the screw, anda furnace provided with an opening connecting with the discharge-orificeof the receiving-hopper, whereby the different ingredients may beautomatically mixed in proper proportionsand be automatically conveyedto. and fed into the furnace.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY M. BROOKFIELDt Witnesses:

EDWIN SEGER, JOHN O. GEMPLER.

